Easy for you to say, thought Wake as he imagined the wrath from all sides their escapade would stir up.
“Very well. Now I have to go tell Linda about her fairy tale wedding. Wish me luck on this mission.”
“Aye, sir. May the luck o’ the Irish be with you an’ comfort you!”
Looking over at the door, Wake became aware of the general muttering of the sailors around him and the fact that he was the subject of much of it. As he rose to depart, several of the old petty officers raised their mugs and glasses to him. Calls of “good luck, sir” and “well done” followed him out the door.
Outside, the first strong gusts of wind were arriving, a wall of rain sweeping across the island as the trees shed their loosest leaves and fronds. Wake made his way down the lane and sheltered in the lee of a house as the heaviest of the cold rain poured from the sky and filled crevices in the hot sand and shell road, making steam rise. He always marveled at the volume of frigid water that came from these Florida afternoon thunderstorms. It was as if the weight of heaven was crashing down. The temperature would immediately drop ten or fifteen degrees. Afterward, the wind would lower and the humidity would become total, slowing even the most vigorous man.
Wake trudged along to Linda’s house for the second time that day. He had walked several miles just that afternoon and knew that he would have to walk several more before he was able to rest later that night. Uniform soaked and clinging to him, he felt anything but the sterling image of a United States Naval officer as he made his way back into the nicer area of town.
By the time he arrived at the familiar house Wake looked and felt bedraggled. The weight of his planned endeavor was increasing upon his mind and the rain and wind were not lightening his mental outlook. He and Linda were courting danger, both bureaucratic and personal, and their life would be difficult at best.
His pocket watch said seven, but she was nowhere in sight. He waited in the cooking shed where the fireplace was still hot from the dinner that had been prepared there. The rain was starting to let up and the humidity was oppressive.
Mosquitoes were stirring, and their whining added to Wake’s tension. There seemed to be even more of them this July than last year. That was another Florida phenomenon he had never gotten used to. The torture of the insects was constant in the summer months and drove him sometimes to the brink of insanity. Their attacks at the moment did not ease the time he was spending in the shed, waiting for Linda to appear.
He could hear voices inside the main house and thought that there were at least four or five. They seemed to be coming from the area of the dining room. A dinner party? It was becoming unbearable to just wait and wonder what was going on inside when their wedding would take place in an hour and a half. A feminine laugh came across the yard and he saw Linda waving to someone inside as she walked out to the shed and into the darkness where he stood.
“What happened, dear? I hear voices in there.”
“Peter, my heart is pounding and my head is throbbing. It has been so tense since we last met this afternoon. You won’t believe what has happened.”
Wake’s own heart felt weak and he sat on the bench.
“Tell me. What has happened?”
“My uncle invited over Mr. Carter and his wife and old man Selkirk. I had to make up a dinner for all of them and we are eating it now. I came out here to get dessert and see you.”
“Well, what about our wedding?”
“Peter, please. If I am to be your wife you’ll have to be more trusting in my ability than that! My bag is packed and sitting behind you. I have also been to Ann Mary’s house and asked her to be my bridesmaid. A bride has to have one of those, you know, and she is my best friend. She is thrilled to be part of this. Said it was more romantic than anything she has ever heard of, even if you are one of those Yankees!”
“Very well. It sounds like all is ready here then. You’ll be prepared to leave here at eight o’clock?”
The moment he said it he realized he might have sounded bit dictatorial, so he smiled and shrugged his shoulders in apology.
“Peter, I am not in your crew and receiving orders, you know. Yes, I will leave here at eight, come what may, and get Ann Mary to walk with me to the place where we’ll marry. But where will that be?”
Wake’s smile vanished, replaced by a pained look. He hoped she would understand.
“The African Cemetery, down on the south beach of the island. Rork and the minister will meet us there. You know the way? Past Bahama town down that sandy pathway.”
Linda stared at him and waited to see if it was a joke. When it was clearly not by the expression on his face, she put her arms around him and held him.
“Peter, that will be fine, dear. It will be a wedding to remember, won’t it?”
“Yes, darling. Not elegant, but one from the heart. Our lives will get better from this night onward. Now, not to be rude but I must go and attend to some things. I will see you there at just before sunset. I love you, Linda. Thank you for all of this.”
He walked back through the bushes as she whispered she loved him. Swatting an insect, he thought of the several things he had to do. First get a ring and a room, then at some point find
